Dragon's Backbones and Gerry Curls
July 6, 2007
Our last visit to Guilin, Eva and I both got our hair done at a nearby salon. I had my hair dyed and permed for the very first time, and Eva got hers re-curled. To be honest, I really hated mine at first, though I figured if I was ever planning to dye my hair, China was a good place to experiment (pricewise at least, though I was rightfully worried about the Chinese sense of style). Post-perm, I seriously looked like I had a gerry curl, and I wasn't a huge fan of the color either. I ended up wearing it in a ponytail for the next couple weeks or so, after which it calmed down a lot. Luckily it was still long enough to tie back.
In other more important news, the Longji rice terraces were amazing. I'd love to go back some winter time, when the dragon's backbone looks like row upon row of frozen waves. The centuries of hard work it took to carve the terraces from the mountainside are immediately evident. Here is what they looked like in summer of 2007: http://goodfarmerchen.smugmug.com/gallery/3574783
If you go (which you should), I recommend staying in Ping'An Village on the mountain rather than in Longsheng town itself. It is much prettier and quieter in the village, which you pass through on your way to climbing the terraces. Supposedly there is a nice hot spring near Longsheng, but Eva and I got to town too late to check it out. Instead we had fun dodging cockroaches at the restaurant and in our hotel room, which was otherwise pretty darn nice : )
We saw a giant pig blocking the road to the rice terraces and several live chickens tied to the handlebars of a motorcycle. There are a plethora of ethnic minorities in this area, including the Zhuang and Bai minorities, who still wear traditional attire in every day life. The colors are really beautiful.
